Pam & Mel’s Dreamy Outer Banks Beach Weddding

How did you meet?

We met in high school our Freshman year! We didn’t talk much and barely had any classes together. We ended being good friends by our Sophomore year becasue we had the same group of friends and sat at the same lunch table!! Later that year in April we started dating!!

How did you get engaged?

Summer was over and school started up again. It was around the Labor Day weekend when Mel came home for a visit. He’s in the Marine Corps stationed in Jacksonville, NC. I decided to go back down with him to North Carolina to get a look at the base, his work, and other places down there. We left Monday and came back Thursday. We went out to eat a couple times, drove around his base, shopped, ate some more, and I of course took lots of pictures!!

Wednesday night, Mel took me out to Applebee’s…our favorite!! Afterwards, I wanted to check out the closest beach which was Emerald Isle. It took us about 30 to 40 minutes or so to get there, BUT we couldn’t find public parking. After at least an hour or so driving around looking for somewhere to park we finally came across a side street with a sign that said PUBLIC PARKING!! We finally found somewhere to park…and it was right in front of our noses…the street looked very familiar, we were on that street before, but couldn’t find the parking!!

The beach was gorgeous and there was this pier off to the left of us. I started taking pictures and didn’t realize that Mel was setting up his video camera on one of the beach access decks. I was wondering what he was doing, so I walked over to find out. Right there he took my hand and I had a feeling something was going on. Mel seemed really nervous. He started to talk about our future and our years so far together…and I of course started to cry!! AND that’s when he got down on one knee, took out the ring, and asked me to MARRY HIM!!!! I of course said “YES”!!!! It was so beautiful. Best day of my life!! I couldn’t have asked for a better Labor Day week(end)!!!

Why OBX for your wedding day?

Mel and I love the beach! It was always a dream of mine as a little girl to get married on the beach! Mel and I have been going to the beach together with our family and friends for the past nine years that we’ve been together. The past three have been going to the Outer Banks and we LOVE IT!! We’ve never seen such a beautiful beach!! We fell in love with the place the first year we visited! Ever since that year we have been going back with our family and friends! What better place to have a wedding of your dreams!!

How did you decide on your ceremony and reception location?

We chose to have our wedding directly on the beach!! What better way to celebrate our love for one another with the ocean breeze and sand at our feet!!

We decided to have our reception back at the house we stayed in for the week. It was oceanfront and worked out perfectly!! The place was gorgeous and accomodated all of our needs!! We didn’t have a big wedding being that we’re both from Pennsylvania and most of our family and friends weren’t able to make the long trip down to the Outer Banks. We decided to have a bigger one back home for everyone who atteneded and wasn’t able to make it to the ceremony!!

How many guests did you have?

We had 40 guests!

How long did you allow for the wedding planning process?

We were engaged in September and got married in July. Those entire ten months we spent planning and LOVED every minute of it!! It was a lot of fun coming up with ideas and other things to make our wedding perfect!!

Share with us some planning details that were important to you.

Mel and I are outgoing people and wanted that to be shown throughout our wedding Day! We wanted to make sure that all of our guests who were attending the ceremony felt welcomed and had a BLAST with us!! I also wanted to make sure that each guest had a place to stay and was close to the ceremony!

Looking back, what was your favorite moment of your wedding day?

Walking down the isle seeing Mel’s face was the BEST part of it all. He looked so handsome and I couldn’t describe how happy I was feeling that day!! I couldn’t stop SMILING!! : ) I also loved seeing all of our family and friends, we were blessed to have everyone share in that special day with us!!

If you could do one thing different either in the planning or actual day, what would it be?

I wouldn’t change a thing!! The planning, the day, everything was PERFECT!! I wish it never ended!! What Mel and I would love is to relive that day everyday!!

What advice would you give to another bride planning her wedding in the Outer Banks?

To enjoy themselves and relax!! I would definately recommend the vendors we had!! They made our day so special and PERFECT!! I didn’t have to worry about a thing on our day…everything fell into place! They were all truly an AMAZING group of people that was a pleasure to work with!!

Did you have a theme or style that you carried through the planing process?

Since we got married on the beach…our theme was the beach!! My wedding colors were bright pink and orange and I used them throughout the planning process to include them into the beach theme. I made everything into a beachy feeling even the reception back home. It turned out wonderful!

What was the style of service?

Plated

Personalization

Mel and I came up with the idea to have our tables at the reception (back home in Pennsylvania) to have them named after places and things we have done throughout our nine year relationship! Each table had pictures of the both of us and everyone really enjoyed them!